Intellectual Property Law

More Efforts by Cable to Reach Out to Bloggers

By Cynthia Brumfield

First, Comcast got wise to Twitter then the National Cable & Telecommunications Association launched a blog-heavy ad campaign. Now the cable industry's main trade association is targeting bloggers in briefing calls, just like political campaigns do.

Last Friday the NCTA held the first call aimed primarily at bloggers to brief them on a controversy that, fittingly enough, cropped up in the blogosphere. It had to do with the impact that switched digital video, a bandwidth-saving technology increasingly used by cable systems, has on CableCard-enabled devices, mostly set-tops and DVRs that come equipped with slots into which separable cable security technology can be inserted.

Aside from the fact that switched digital technology might make these devices non-functional somehow, I don't know much about the specific issues discussed on the call, athough I listened. Mari Silbey and Dave Zatz have write-ups that shed more light on the matter.

Once again, cable's doing the right thing from a PR perspective, after many years of keeping quiet or making bad mistakes. The association reps on the call got beat up a bit by the sometimes hostile bloggers, but they held their own.

When trouble kicks up, particularly in the political arena, it's always better to communicate than retreat into silence. When it comes to media relations, bloggers are as influential, if not more influential, than mainstream media these days.

Full post as published by IP Democracy on April 29, 2008 (boomark / email).